BrainJuicer back on track with special dividend

Shares in BrainJuicer were up nearly 5% on Friday as the online market researcher announced a special dividend.

£1.5 million, representing 12p a share, will be returned to shareholders in reflection of "encouraging" first-half performance, said chief executive officer John Kearon.

This comes in addition to the regular interim dividend of 0.9p a share, up 6% from last year. The company plans to keep increasing the dividend in line with earnings-per-share growth.

Concerns that BrainJuicer may be spending excessively on dividends were addressed with the reassurance that last year's cost-cutting exercises provided an opportunity to "re-prioritise". Future growth is addressed with entry into new markets, specifically India and Singapore, as well as further investment in its French and Italian offices.

Friday's half-year results also showed growth across the board, with an 81% increase in pre-tax profits, to £1.3 million, on the back of 4% revenue growth to £10.8 million.

"The combination of resumed revenue growth, against a strong comparative period, and lower costs has delivered a very strong profits increase," said Kearon, citing the US and the UK operations as the main growth drivers this year. "We believe we are on track to meet market profit expectations for the full year."